This Invention relates to a folding hand truck for use in moving heavy objects. Hand trucks, also referred to as dollies, have been known in the art for many years and have enjoyed widespread use by allowing a single person to move large and/or heavy objects easily. Hand trucks are typically designed with horizontal platform for supporting a load attached perpendicularly to a vertical frame for resting the load with a handle at the upper portion of the frame, a pair of wheels located at the bottom of the frame, and occasionally a secondary set of caster wheels mounted at the top of the frame for additional support and maneuverability with the frame rotated into a horizontal position. Collapsible and folding hand trucks are also known within the art; the typical arrangements involve means for folding the horizontal platform into a position coplanar with the vertical frame and/or means for collapsing or telescoping elements of the vertical frame. For instance, Ingalls, U.S. Pat. No. 5,971,424 and DeMars, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,803,471 each describe a hand cart with a collapsing handle and folding platform. The desirable elements of such collapsible hand trucks include a minimization of storage space required for the hand truck when not being used while maintaining sturdiness and ability to move heavy loads in the fully assembled position. Collapsible-handled hand trucks, however, tend to lose some mechanical sturdiness due to the smaller diameter material used to make the inner telescoping portions of the frame.
The present invention fulfills the need for a compact and sturdy hand cart in a fashion superior to the prior art by providing an extremely compact yet strong folding hand truck that takes up a minimum of volume in its folded position yet enjoys a mechanical strength equivalent to that of non-folding, non-collapsible hand trucks when in its unfolded position.